The instant invention is concerned with providing realistic training to fire-fighters who must deal with aircraft fires on the ground. More particularly, the instant invention provides a training apparatus that, while on the one hand is realistic in the type and severity of the fire it can simulate, on the other hand has numerous safety controls designed into it and is cost-efficient and environmentally safe to use.
In order for fire crews at airports, military airfields and such other installations to quickly and safely handle aircraft fires, a proper amount of "hands-on" training must be provided. A traditional approach that is known is to pour a quantity of aviation fuel over and around a burned out hull and start a fire. Aside from the real-life experience this training provided, it always carried with it a number of imprudent sidelines. For one thing, there was always a danger factor involved not only to the area but to training personnel, when spilling JP-4, or some other fuel, over and around a structure and then setting it on fire. The ground area all around the spill, as well as the structure itself, would go up in flames and the only way to stop the burning would be to suffocate the fire, wherever it was and for however long it took. Depending on the spill, this could be time-consuming. Certainly the training area would be removed from the main activity of the airfield to lessen this danger, but there still remained the fact that the burning had to continue until either the fire was completely extinguished, possibly leaving unburned fuel around, or all of the fuel was entirely burned up.
Another danger with the traditional approach is the one to the environment. Burning JP-4 causes thick black clouds of smoke or air-borne pollutants. Un-burned JP-4 could contaminate the ground water in the local vicinity. Neither of these two results are desirable, and in fact, could cause environmental damage.